The present invention relates to products for facilitating access to automobiles and, more specifically, to a door assembly for a vehicle.
Major automobile manufacturers do not presently mass-produce any highway vehicle that specifically accommodates the requirements of physically challenged passengers. Consequently, products for assisting people traveling in wheel chairs or gurneys, for example, while entering and exiting automotive vehicles are necessarily installed as after-market accessory products.
Previously known accessory products include wheel chair lifts, lift platforms, ramps and lowered floor surfaces. Typically, a door of a mass-produced van is enlarged or otherwise modified to accept the product. Even so, the product usually occupies the entire width of the accessorized entrance. While these previously known products are helpful, none is entirely satisfactory. Among other problems, the previously known products tend to discourage people who are not physically challenged from using the assisted entrance.
Seating locations for passengers who use the assisted entrance are typically provided in a rear passenger compartment of the van, near the assisted entrance. Although there may be additional doors in the rear compartment, they usually open at van floor level, a height which makes them difficult for all passengers to use. Accordingly, unassisted passengers who desire to ride in the rear compartment must first pass through the front compartment or, alternatively, negotiate the accessorized door. Those who pass through the front door, then move rearwardly past the assisted seating locations to reach their seats. This circuitous route is undesirable.
In the alternative, one may enter by the assisted door. For example, a caregiver who assists his or her wheelchair patient into an accessorized van usually squeezes past the wheelchair to ride with the patient. Passengers should not have to squeeze through to enter.
A need exists for a new product that facilitates van access for all passengers, regardless of handicaps or disabilities. An accessory that permits a friend or caregiver to enter a vehicle at the same time as a physically challenged person would be welcomed. Ideally, the new product can be used in conjunction with conventional wheel chair lifts or lift platforms.
The invention provides a vehicle door assembly. The door assembly includes two entrances immediately adjacent to each other. One of the entrances is at about the height of the vehicle floor, while the other is lower than the vehicle floor and opens into a stairwell that leads up and into the vehicle. The door assembly includes doors for closing the entrances. The door assembly may be mass-produced as a modular component and mounted on a conventional vehicle that has been specially modified to accept the door assembly.
In some models, the frame assembly includes a post that divides the floor-level entrance from the lower entrance. The stairwell is positioned inside the lower entrance and includes a stair tread positioned below the elevation of the floor. Preferably, the lower entrance is positioned rearwardly of the floor-level entrance, as determined when the door assembly is mounted on the vehicle.
In other models, the door assembly is suitable for a vehicle equipped with an appliance for assisting passengers to enter the vehicle, such as a lift or a ramp. The door assembly includes an assisted entrance appropriate for use by a passenger being assisted by the appliance. An unassisted entrance for unassisted passengers is located immediately adjacent to the assisted entrance. Both entrances are surrounded by a frame assembly for mounting on the vehicle. A stairwell attached to the frame assembly is positioned to serve the unassisted entrance.
A conventional van can be modified to utilize the invention. A portion of the van wall is removed. A portion of the van floor near the wall cut-out is also removed. The door assembly is inserted into the wall cut-out so that the stairwell fits into the floor cut-out. Permanently mounting the frame assembly to the vehicle produces a van that is suitable for carrying assisted and unassisted passengers together in ease and comfort.